A NAUGHTY BOY

I watched the Kieth Olbermann "Countdown" reenactment of the Senator Craig bathroom incident. When I saw the details of the police report, and when I heard his "wide stance" explanation, I thought it would be obvious to everyone that he was lying. I mean, we've all used stalls in public restrooms. And we know that our feet and the feet of others don't just go wandering around underneath the partitions. Wide stance or not, you just don't stick your feet into somebody else's stall. Craig was lying.

This bothered the Republican Party, of course. For, after all, they are the world's most dedicated and professional liars, and Craig had not consulted with them first. His inferior lying had put the GOP in a bad light. Perhaps, with help from above, Craig could have kept things hidden a while longer, as Mark Foley was helped to win several more elections to Congress after the first allegations against him surfaced in 1996. He had important work to do, after all, serving as chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.

So now Craig has gone. He's not "gay". He just likes to be "naughty" once in a while. What's the difference? Well, if he were gay, he would approve of such behavior, and defend it as a private, personal choice. Since he's not gay, he opposes such behavior and encourages others to condemn it and even use political powers to harass "gay" people. It's a big difference, the difference between saying "naughty" and "nice".

Craig is definitely a wierd, twisted little creature, like many Republicans.

Still, my wife has raised the question of what was the crime that Craig actually committed? And why was a police officer working to apprehend such offenders?

I admit, I made the assumption that the Minneapolis police were just doing their duty. I figured there must have been some complaints made. Perhaps the place had become notorious among travelers and was giving visitors to the city a distorted impression of Minneapolis. Perhaps straight men were getting creeped out by the frequent sight of eyeballs staring at them through the crack by the door. Perhaps there were never any stalls left any more. I don't know. I just assumed that the police had what they considered to be a good reason to take action.

I wouldn't make that assumption about Los Angeles, by the way.

Now I'm feeling a little concerned. It's clear there are some laws on the books that don't belong there.

But it was nice to see a Republican tell a lie and actually get caught. It was a dumb lie, and obviously didn't come from the pros in the propaganda department. The last time we saw this happen was on Super Bowl Sunday in 2002. Sure, he "choked on a pretzel", lost consciousness, fell down, and came to by himself - during the Super Bowl. Or could it be that he sipped half way through a bottle of Southern Comfort, was seriously out of practice in heavy drinking, tripped on his own feet in the bathroom, and came up with a ridiculous story before any of his staff could whip up a better one?

You be the judge.

NOSTALGIA

It's been a while since I last posted. I've been busy. And I haven't been inspired by much that's happening these days.

I was an optimist, once. I felt lucky. I have been lucky, in many respects, but I felt that good fortune would always be a part of my future. I don't feel that way any more.

I could never have imagined some of the things I have witnessed in the past decade. The stolen elections. The phony reasons for war. The trashing of the Constitution.

And, what's worse, the pathetic weakness in the defense of this nation and its principles.

This generation of Americans has failed, so far, to defend America from its enemies: Bush, Cheney, and their corporate masters. Our government, our media, our future have been sold out. We have been sold out. And most of us just sit, helpless.

It's depressing.

Is there hope?

It would be nice to think so.

As a nation, we've been through tough times before, and we have prevailed. There's reason to believe that we will do so again. Real democracy may survive here - if we are determined.

In the words of a non-corrupt Republican: "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Those were terrible times. But at least we had an honest President.

DON IMUS AND THE PERILS OF COMEDY

Bye-bye, Mr. Imus.

I won't miss him. I don't listen to radio very much, and I've only seen him growling on air during his cable TV broadcasts. As I was switching through the channels, sometimes I'd see him in his cowboy hat with his studio full of doo-wah backup fellas. But I wouldn't stay long. He wasn't worth much.

He must have been a funny guy long ago. But now he's 67 years old and running on empty.

Still, he has become a cause celebre of sorts, for insulting a woman's college basketball team.

So what is there to say about this guy?

I think of a Knights of Columbus dinner for good old Father O'Malley. At the podium, all night long, there are guys making fun of good old Father O'Malley. His golf game, his thinning hair, his bad eyes, that time he called out the wrong bingo number and had two charming old ladies ready to go nuclear - these are all fair game and get plenty of laughs.

But what happens when that comic down at the local club starts telling the same jokes, and Father O'Malley and the Knights of Columbus hear about it? It's not funny any more. That comic, he's not even Catholic. Where does he get off, making fun of good old Father O'Malley? That really pisses us off, goddamn it. Let's get that guy!

It's the same thing with poor Don. If he had been perceived as a long time supporter of the black community, and was known to be speaking only in fun, he would still be babbling over the airwaves. But the problem for Don is that he wasn't seen as sympathetic or supportive of the black community. In fact, insulting a group of young women who were seen as brilliant success stories within the black community - smart and successful - only proves how completely inept and out of touch poor Don was.

He was trying to be funny.

But he wasn't funny any more.

Bye-bye, Don.

Good riddance.

DIVIDE AND CONQUER

The Romans had a saying, Divide et Impera. Thank you, Wikipedia.

It means Divide and Rule Over, Dominate, Conquer, Own.

It's what we have today in American politics, practiced by the American Right Wing.

They have a deliberate strategy to find and promote divisiveness in our political discourse.

It helps too, if you've bought up the mass media and can fire anybody who's not a media whore. Goodbye, Peter Arnett, Dan Rather, Bill Maher. Hello, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reillly, Tucker Carlson.

We won't talk about how American corporate interests killed the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and reignited the nuclear arms race, so that billions of dollars could be spent in deployment of a Star Wars system in Alaska that is completely doomed to failure.

We won't talk about how American corporate interests greedy to get their hands on oil fields in Iraq and greedy to build permanent military bases in Iraq perverted American foreign policy to send our military to set up a puppet govenment (with those lovely corrupt officials) in Iraq.

(Of course, the Iraqis aren't that dumb. This whole perverse scheme is also doomed.)

We won't talk about how the War on Terror has led to unprecedented and illegal invasions of privacy of ordinary Americans, by liars and crooks and degenerates who can't be trusted with any authority under any circumstances.

We were going to talk about gay marriage and abortion rights and illegal immigrants.

Anything but governance and public policy and our future as a nation.

Perhaps, one by one, Americans are waking up.

Not listening to Right Wing liars.

We are a mighty people if we remain true to our Constitution and our fundamental beliefs : "All men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Inalienable means undeniable, absolute, sacred, protected from interference ESPECIALLY BY FASCIST RIGHT WING GOVERNMENTS LIKE THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION!!!

Let's agree on that.

Because, undivided, we will prevail.

PREDATORS

One might consider the human condition.

One of us humans might consider it, anyway. Who else / What else would care? Have you ever considered the parrot condition? The moray eel condition? The Vulcan condition?

Well, perhaps you have. Now I'm starting to wonder about them myself. But back to business.

We are the dominant species of this planet. Why?

We don't have the horrible crushing jaws of the shark, or the stealth and power of the tiger, or the breathless speed and piercing vision of the eagle. And yet they are endangered. By us.

How?

Intelligence? It would be nice to think so. But you can't turn on a television and still feel that way for long. Britney Spears? Anna-Nicole? George W? Pul-eeese! It's not that they exist. The horribly disgraceful thing is that ANYONE IS PAYING ATTENTION TO THEM!

I think the strength of humanity is in the "we" part of humanity.

"We" are stronger, smarter, and more capable than any single one of us.

"We" can do things no other species can, because we remember much of all previous human experience and build on it. Isaac Newton said, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." He was a clever dude. He taught himself calculus. By inventing it.

I believe that our greatest strength as the human species is that we can work together, and that we can learn from each other. That is what has allowed us to develop vaccines by learning from the French (Louis Pasteur) , and to create computers by learning from the British (Alan Turing), and to send men to the moon by learning from the Nazis (Werner Von Braun).

But there is a fly in this ointment.

There is a predatory streak in human nature. Of course, this was a good thing when we were hunting wild boars and buffalo. But it is a bad thing when we are being predatory towards ourselves. And, unfortunately, we make good targets.

Slavery? Imagine that you stick a pistol in someone's ribs and take his wallet. That's bad. But imagine you overpower him and demand everything he ever owns, everything he ever earns, even his children. That's slavery. And that's the kind of crap that the right wing Bible Bangers are on record as supporting.

Don't believe me?

Hey look at this:

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0401/answers.html

So we have a problem.

Some people believe that it is acceptable to be predators of their own kind.

This, of course, is treason for any decent, patriotic American.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

That's us. That's Americans. That's from our own Declaration of Independence.

But that's not the ideal that right wing degenerates are living by.

For them, divisiveness and hate are a way of life. And when it comes to Us versus Them, public floggings and lynchings (pre-desegregation) and (lately) Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and CIA renditions are just a normal part of their perverse belief system.

They are unashamed enemies of mankind, of decency, and of what is best about humanity.

They are predators.

But "We" are stronger, smarter, and more capable than they are.

"We" are going to defeat them.

After all, even Jesus said "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. "

Goodness will prevail.